May’s lieutenants deeply divided over what their next move will be

THERESA MAY’S Cabinet was deeply divided last night over the way forward for Brexit as they formed factions arguing for a broad spectrum of opposing plans.

With the Prime Minister steadfastly refusing to tell ministers what her Plan B was, half of the Cabinet wanted her to take a no-deal Brexit off the table while others would rather have no deal than no Brexit.

While they all publicly supported Mrs May’s deal, it is clear that those around the Cabinet table privately held very different visions for post-brexit Britain.

News that Gavin Barwell, the chief of staff, and Olly Robbins, Mrs May’s chief Brexit adviser, have been sounding out ministers about the idea of a cross-party consensus with Labour over a series of indicative votes has angered the Leavers in the Cabinet advocating a clean break from Brussels.

The plan – supported by arch Remainers Amber Rudd, the Work and Pensions Secretary, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, and David Gauke, the Justice Secretary – would see MPS try to resolve the impasse over Brexit by voting on a series of alternative outcomes including extending Article 50 and, potentially, a second referendum.

David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister and Mrs May’s de facto deputy, is also thought to be in favour of the proposals.

Ms Rudd, the former home secretary, is understood to have told colleagues during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting that the Government will be forced to abandon no deal by Parliament and should “lead instead of being led”.

Highlighting bids by Nick Boles and Oliver Letwin, former ministers, to hand control of Brexit to Parliament, she is understood to have urged Mrs May to take “no deal off the table”.

The Remainers faced a strong pushback as 10 ministers including Jeremy Hunt, Andrea Leadsom, Chris Grayling and Damian Hinds argued taking no deal off the table would remove one of the main “incentives” for MPS to back the deal. “Support for the deal will diminish without it,” Mr Hinds is reported to have said.

Brexiteers within Cabinet are also understood to have warned that the threat of no deal will give Mrs May more leverage to renegotiate with the EU over the Irish backstop.

One minister told The Daily Telegraph: “If the EU thinks the only alternative to the Withdrawal Agreement is MPS taking control of the process to produce the softest possible Brexit, then why on earth would they want to renegotiate anything?”

Mr Hinds, along with May loyalists Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland Secretary, and James Brokenshire, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, are thought to advocate Mrs May bringing back the deal for a second vote.

The Attorney General yesterday hinted that that was what Mrs May was planning to do although standing orders state that Parliament cannot vote on the same deal twice so it would have to contain substantive changes.

The idea of reaching out to Labour has appalled many in Cabinet, with Brandon Lewis, the party chairman, reported to have told colleagues it could spell electoral oblivion for the Tories. “The party wouldn’t wear it,” he is understood to have said.

Ms Leadsom said that for the first time she now has serious concerns that there may be no Brexit at all – putting her firmly in a camp of Leavers who are now considering “no deal” as the least worst outcome. Sources close to the former leadership hopeful say Ms

‘If the EU thinks the only alternative ... is MPS taking control ... why would they want to renegotiate?’

Leadsom has always advocated a “managed no-deal” as a Plan B.

Fellow ministers who campaigned to leave the EU, including Chris Grayling and Penny Mordaunt, have given their backing to a Canada Plus style deal along with Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury. Mindful that his department would cease to exist if Britain remains in any kind of customs union, Brexiteer Liam Fox would advocate “no deal” over “no Brexit”.

More difficult to read are the likes of Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, and Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, who have previously been linked to supporting a Norway Plus style deal.

Having warned that no deal could result in people dying and drugs shortages, Mr Hancock is thought to be “more comfortable” about leaving on WTO terms now departments have done more no deal planning.

Mr Gove yesterday evoked Game of Thrones-style rhetoric to warn that “winter’s coming” in the event of the deal being voted down.

Colleagues have said he has always advocating leaving the EU in any form, with a view to tweaking the withdrawal terms at a later date – a move described as “pie in the sky thinking” by Jacob Rees-mogg, chairman of the European Research Group of Tory MPS.

Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, and Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, remain opposed to no Brexit yet are ambiguous when it comes to their preferred Plan B.